I made 300 point 1941 fleets for USN, UK, France, Germany, Japan and Italy to take on deployment with me. Played the hell out of them. The US fleet was centered around dauntless equipped Carriers with the Washington and Constellation as fast escorts. UK was primarily battleships with carriers for air cover. France was cruiser heavy. Japan was a mirror of the US but with more torpedo focus than bombs in the planes. Germany had raiders and submarines to supplement the heavy fleet units. Italy mirrored France almost exactly, but used smoke to make up for less air power.
I played solo and put every country against the Americans. The US easily won every battle, save one. The Japanese and US were almost equals, but the PBY on the board gave the US just enough of an edge to cripple the heavy Japanese units and allow the Washington and Constellation to destroy them from range 4.
I have something for a soft spot for Italians, and I actually have enough Italians to make a neat (in the sense that it's pretty much on the dot) 200 point list:
Vittorio Veneto 49 Aquila 15 Trento 14 Guiseppe Garibaldi 13 Luca Tagiro 8 Camicia Nere 7 Ascari 6 2x Leonardo da Vinci 22 Sm 79 Sparviero 11 2x Ju 87 Picchiatelli 16 3x Re 2001 CB 33 C.202 Folgore 5 Total 199
The Ju 87s and Sparviero make for a nice airstrike group (against lighter targets, admittedly; Stukas are very much a glass cannon unit) while the 2001s fly CAP. The Garibaldi, Luca, and Camicia screen Vittorio and Trento against subs and gunfire while the Leonardos move forward to attack, and the main battle group provides a reasonable distraction for the Aquila and Ascari to move and take some objectives.
In theory, anyway. I've only played this list once against someone else and never finished the game, and my solo games have been mixed (against the British works fine, but against the US it can't really damage much before getting blown off the table).
The man who gets beat down isn't the loser. The guy who can't tough it out to the end, he's the one who loses.
Here's a 200 point German Friedrich der Grosse 70 River Plate Graf Spee 21 Graf Zeppelin 18 U-510 x 2 = 22 Seydlitz 13 FW-190 A3/U3 x 2 = 22 Ju-87E Stuka x 2 = 22 BV-138 Sea Dragon 6 Fw-200 Condor 6
And a 200 point Italian Roma 50 Andrea Doria 35 Cape Teulada Bolzano 16 Aquila 15 Trieste 15 Sm.79 Sparviero x 3 = 33 Re.2001 CB x 2 = 22 Camicia Nere x 2 = 14
How about posting 200 pt fleets by year. Which would limit some of the already posted fleets. Our groups always go by year.
We usually do as well. That is a little bit more labor intensive when I'm bored. I usually just update my build on the fly if I have units before their due date.
Never going to say its best; but i think it gives you a lot of flexibility against any monster your going to face.
# UNIT COST REASON
1 YORKTOWN = 23 EXPERT SA'S & DAMAGE CONTROL 1 ENTERPRISE = 25 EXPERT SA'S & SURVIVOR 3 HELLDIVERS = 42 BEST BOMB LOAD & ADDED EXPERT 2 WILDCATS = 14 ESCORT 1 FM-2 WILDCAT = 6 CAP 2 PBY = 14 SHADOW OR ASW CONTROL 1 SAN DIEGO = 11 AA NEAR MISS 1 LAFFEY = 09 AA SA'S 1 BARB = 12 2 TORP ATTACKS; NEED SOMETHING FOR THE BB'S ALONG WITH A SUB ATTACK IF NEEDED 1 SILVERSIDES = 12 SYNERGY WITH BARB AGAIN SOMETHING FOR THE BB'S & SUB ATTACK 2 QUINCY'S = 32 THE POINTS HERE ARE OBJECTIVE OR FOR OBJECTIVES 16 UNITS 200 POINTS THE USN HAS A LOT OF CA'S FOR DIFFERENT NEEDS; SWARM; HEAVY AIR;; CA AND EXTENDED RANGE FOR LONG LANCE PROTECTION; THE CHOICE IS YOUR'S